Maravi

Rupiah dissapoints Mongu residents

Rupiah dissapoints Mongu residents
Written by Lambwe Kachali in Mongu
Thursday, November 13, 2008 8:25:25 AM

SOME Mongu residents on Tuesday expressed disappointment over President Rupiah Banda’s cancellation of his visit to Western Province.
And Western Province acting permanent secretary Phanuel Chibala said although President Banda had cancelled the visit, the province was expecting a lot from him.

Some residents talked to, after the President’s planned trip to Western Province was cancelled, expressed disappointment at President Banda’s unexpected cancellation of his visit to the province which they said was underdeveloped. Mark Sitwala said people in Western Province expected more from President Banda.

Sitwala said late president Levy Mwanawasa tried his best to build schools in the remotest areas of the province.

He said the developments initiated by the late president should not end in smoke.

“But he is now worrying us with his cancellation of visits. He needs to be fulfilling his promises because we voted for him and we expect him to deliver,” said Sitwala.

Another resident Mubiana Mubiana said if President Banda continued to be unrealistic in his programmes, people would lose trust in him.

“Does it mean he did not know that he has work to do before assuring us of his coming?” Mubiana asked. “As a leader, he needs to be serious and not put people off. We want him to come so that he can see the problems people are facing here.”

On November 6, 2008 senior private secretary to the President a Mr D Sampa wrote a letter to Western Provincial minister Adonis Mufalali, which was also copied to the Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja informing them that President Banda would be visiting Mongu.

“I have the honour to inform you that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zambia shall visit Mongu on Tuesday 11th November 2008. On the agenda will be a meeting with his Royal Highness the Litunga,” stated Sampa.

On Monday morning, preparations in Mongu started and people were happy with the news because Western Province would have been the first province that the President visited after winning the October 30 elections.

According to the local programme, President Banda was expected in Mongu at 08:30 hours after which he was scheduled to hold a briefing at 09:30 hours.

He was then supposed to pay a courtesy call on the Litunga of the Lozi people.

President Banda was also expected to meet officers from the Veterinary Department as well as hold another meeting with MMD officials before returning to Lusaka.

However, as the day progressed, word went round that President Banda had cancelled his trip.

Another letter dated November 10, 2008 signed by Sampa, addressed to Mufalali, stated that President Banda had postponed his trip because of outstanding work on his desk.

“I regret to inform you that His Excellency the President has decided to postpone the visit to Western Province because of outstanding work on his desk. You shall be advised in due course when he will be coming to Western Province as he considers the visit very important. His Excellency advises that you inform his Royal Highness the Litunga, although he will phone him too,” stated Sampa.

And Chibala confirmed President Banda’s abrupt cancellation of his visit but said if he did not come until March next year, he would still be expected to come for the Kuomboka ceremony.

He said it was sad that President Banda had cancelled the visit because it would have been a plus to the province.

“At first, our local programme was to show him Kalabo-Mongu road because this is the major challenge we as a province are facing. We also wanted to show him the bridge components, which have arrived. As per procedure, we had written all the contentious issues that we wanted the President to attend to and we submitted to Lusaka for approval. Unfortunately, they did not approve, and instead we were told that President Banda would only visit His Royal Highness the Litunga, and then address party officials and others,” Chibala said.

Chibala said poor road infrastructure in Western Province was the major challenge and should be attended to without fail.

“We cannot administer government projects well when roads are impassable, we cannot deliver education, health and agriculture materials because roads are so bad. So, when we heard that the Republican President was coming, we were happy because we wanted to take that opportunity to bring the problems to his attention,” Chibala said. “If we can start tackling these roads one by one, it will be a milestone for us. But I am sure that if he fails to come here up to March next year, he will still come to officiate at the Kuomboka ceremony.”

Chibala said the government should be ready to spend more money on roads in Western Province because the area was sandy.

“Sand and floods are the major problems here. It is difficult to find gravel, so you have to ferry gravel from faraway places. Indeed every road is expensive here,” said Chibala.

Labels: MONGU, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 8:27 AM